The Story of Aquila Cadbury
by impossible hazelnut
Summary: An old friend of Fletcher's moves to Ireland. This is her story: a mix of flashbacks and drabbles set after KotW. Hopefully better than it sounds. Eventually Fletch/OC and maybe a bit of Valduggery. Maybe.
1. Chapter 1

Aquila Cadbury stood in front of the full length mirror, frowning. Unlike most fourteen year old girls, she didn't normally stand in front of mirrors for ages. But today was different. Today Gran was coming. It didn't seem fair to Aquila, because Gran wasn't really her Gran at all. She was the mother of Abi, who had adopted Aquila after her real parents had died in a car crash when she was six. Aquila loved Abi and her husband George, but they weren't like proper parents.

But it had been them who had taught her magic, then seen her potential and taken her to Ireland, a cradle of magic. It had been George who had first introduced her to astrology, and Abi who had taken her to Cadbury world for her tenth birthday.

"Aquila!" Abi's voice drifted in to her bedroom and Aquila started. "Gran's here!" Aquila tugged down the hem of her skirt and left the room.

"Oh, hello Genie." Aquila winced upon hearing her given name, even though she knew Gran couldn't use it to control her.

"Hello Gran." Aquila said, unenthusiastically. Gran's eyes roved over her, taking in her denim skirt, purple t-shirt and messy chocolate brown hair, before coming to rest on her grey eyes. Aquila sat down awkwardly on the sofa. Nobody spoke. The atmosphere was colder than the weather outside, and it was snowing that evening.

Aquila's phone buzzed in her pocket and she took it out, glad of the distraction. It read: _Hey do u want 2 cum round 2morow? Fletch_. She grinned. Fletcher Renn was her only proper friend and she would never pass up a chance to see him.

"Abi," she said "can I go round to Fletcher's tomorrow?" Abi grinned at her.

"Of course!"

Aquila replied to Fletcher text saying: _Yeah sure can u pick me up from my place about 10ish? Aq xx_. She felt better now, ready to face the hours with Gran. "So," she said "Having a nice…life?"

"Well, my dear…" Gran went off on one of her extraordinarily long descriptions of her life, and Aquila gazed into her cup of tea, remembering all the happy moments she had spent in the past with her best friends: Julia Shadows and Fletcher Renn.


	2. Flashback 1:Dancing

"Come _on _Freddie!" said Genie, dragging her friend down the street.

"I don't _want _to come to your stupid ball dancing class!" insisted Freddie, straining against his friends, who were both yanking him onwards.

"Yes you do!" said Gwyneth, running one manicured hand through her white-blonde hair.

"I really _don't." _

"But you _agreed_, Freddie!" insisted Genie.

"Did _not!" _ Persisted Freddie "Get off! You're creasing my Hollister hoodie!"

"Now, we're not!" argued Gwyn. "Look, we're her now!" They were at the church hall, and the dance instructor Charlotte had come out to greet them.

"Hello! Hello! Hello!" she beamed at the three kids before her. "I see you've brought a friend, girls! Come in, come in!"

The room had wooden flooring, with windows and mirrors on the walls. Inside was a group of girls and boys - but mostly girls – in hoodies and tracksuit bottoms or leggings. Another girl, a small red-head called Lila came skipping over.

"Gwyn!" she smiled "You promised to dance with _me _today!"

"Oh…" said Gwyn, casting a regretful look towards Freddie, who was admiring his own hair in the mirror, "Yeah, sure…"

Genie looked at Freddie. "Dance with me?" she said.

Her friend sighed. "Oh, alright." It was all going to plan; Genie just hoped that Gwyn wouldn't guess that it was her who had egged on Lila to beg a dance from her.

"Come on!" she said, dragging Freddie away from the mirror "Charlotte's starting the music!"

"But I don't _know _how to ball dance!" Freddie sounded slightly panicky, afraid of looking stupid.

"I'll teach you!" Genie assured him "Put your hand there – no _here! _Step to the left. No, stupid - that's _right_. And back, ok that's better… you're supposed to be leading!"

"Ok, ok!" said Freddie, attempting to dance to the slow music.

"Oh, and by the way" added Genie "You need to come back to my house after dance. I need to prove the Abi and George that I've got friends."

"You've got loads of friends!" protested Freddie, as Genie spun under his arm "Why do you need to prove it?"

Genie shrugged, yanking Freddie in the right direction. "They're still worried about me. Always convinced that I'm sad or something."

"Seriously?" laughed Freddie, spinning her the wrong way "You're one of the happiest people I know!"

"Parents for you…" Genie sighed "How are your parents at the moment?"

"The same" said Freddie "I almost hope they get divorced, then there might be less shouting."

"Who would you live with if they did?" wondered Genie. She was trying not to sound too nosey, but it wasn't often that she could get Freddie to talk about his family.

"My mum I guess" The song ended there, and they stopped dancing to listen to the instructions Charlotte was giving them. But for one Genie's mind was far from the dance class. She was wondering what would happen if Freddie's parents _did _split up. He always acted so cool about it, but he had bruises from where his father hit him, and she hadn't gone to his house for years. Freddie was always the first person in school in the mornings, and rarely went straight back in the evenings. She had always tried her best to help him, but how could she in the long run?

As they twirled around the room, Genie wondered how much Gwyn really like Freddie. She always seemed convinced that he'd ask her out once she was old enough. She was always flicking her hair and wearing even more make-up than usual when he was around.


	3. Flash-forward 1: Fletcher

**So, whatever you might think, this chapter happens about THREE YEARS after what is called 'Chapter One'. I'll go back to that bit of time, but I got bored for the moment. I did it because I figured that Aquila couldn't go out with Fletch if she was 14 and he was 19. So this is the future, around KotW time. Soz if you get confused!**

"Aquila!" came George's voice from the sitting room "Fletcher's here!"

"Coming!" Aquila chucked her mascara in the general direction of her dressing table and scrambled out of her room, tripping over a hairdryer, a shoe and a samurai sword in the process. When she came into the sitting room, she saw Fletcher standing with George by the door out of the apartment.

"Hey Fletch!" she said, grinning. Fletcher gave her that glittering smile which made her feel as like he'd been waiting all day to see her and give her that smile.

"Ready to go?" he said.

"Er…practically!" grinned Aquila, grabbing the purple boots that Ghastly had made for her off the floor and putting them on. "Bye George!" she called, before taking Fletcher's hand.

They teleported, and in an instant they stood if Fletcher's flat in Australia. Books, magazines, empty pizza boxes, clothes, and one of Aquila's scarves lay around on the floor.

"So…" Fletcher looked around the messy room "watch TV?"

"Sure!" the two of them flopped down on the squashy, bright yellow sofa and Fletcher turned the TV on.

After a while, Aquila glanced across at Fletcher to see him watching at her. He looked away quickly, blushing slightly. Taking a chance, Aquila moved across the sofa so she was right next to Fletcher and flopped against him. Evidently she had made the right move, because he put an arm round her shoulders.

The silence was too much for Aquila. "How's Myra?" she said. Aquila didn't know why she'd brought up Fletcher's girlfriend; she didn't _like _Myra at all. Which didn't have anything to do with her being Fletcher's girlfriend, she told herself. Absolutely not. She just didn't like her.

"Oh…" said Fletcher vaguely "Yeah, she's fine." This was weird: Fletcher usually took any opportunity to talk about his girlfriend. He turned to look at Aquila. "You look lovely today, by the way. I really like your shirt."

"Thanks!" giggled Aquila. Then, with almost no warning, Fletcher bent down and kissed her. It came as such a shock to Aquila that at first she forgot to kiss him back. But she did, and her insides did backflips. And then it was over, and they stared at each other in silence, realising what had just happened.

"Myra." Said Fletcher, at last.

"Myra." agreed Aquila. Fletcher dropped his arm from her shoulders and turned away from her and put his head in his hands. "Oh, Quils! What am I _doing?" _

"I don't know, Fletch!" said Aquila, sinking back into the sofa.

"I don't know either!" Fletcher sounded annoyed with himself "I'm almost as bad as…." He tailed off, but Aquila knew what he was thinking. As bad as Valkyrie.

"No you're not." She said firmly "It only happened once, didn't it?"

Fletcher sighed. "I think that's what Valkyrie said."

"But it won't happen again!" she protested.

"Valkyrie said _that_, too."

"But…" Aquila struggled to find an argument that would make Fletcher feel better "You don't even _like _me….Not like _that! _Do you?"

"Valkyrie said something along the lines of that as well…." Fletcher sat up strait and turned to look at her "I'm sorry, Quils."

"Sorry?" spluttered Aquila "Why are you _sorry? _ Do you think I…? Do you….? You think I don't….? That I didn't….?"

Fletcher looked slightly puzzled. "Huh? You mean you… you _wanted _me to…?" They both looked at each other, struggling for words.

"Um…" said Aquila, slightly awkwardly.

"Um… Quils?" Fletcher said, looking in the direction of her left shoulder.

"Yeah?" Aquila responded, blushing furiously.

"Well…" Fletcher took a deep breath "I do… um… like you…like _that. _As you may have gathered." And then he turned and kissed her, and Aquila's insides did somersaults again. At first she was tense and awkward, but then she relaxed and put her arms round Fletcher's neck.

Neither knew how long they spent like this, hugging and kissing and mumbling to each other. One of Fletcher's hands were tangled in Aquila's hair and he was kissing her neck when the doorbell rang.

"Fletch?" it was an all too familiar voice that shouted through the letter-box. "Are you there?"

Aquila and Fletcher looked at each other in horror. "Myra!" he mouthed.

**So…. Was it ok? If you disagree PLEASE review! No flames please! I just want to know how I could make it better! Or if you liked it, please tell me! The chapter coming up next will be more about Gran, following on form Chapter 1. Impossible hazelnut **


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